Varillia Point ~

Thursday, 10 September 2015

Varillia Point

02:27

Lance Dean

After seemingly endless running around this small town, of ,shopping, getting fuel, catching bait while waiting for the bottle shop to open, we finally headed off, late in day, didn't get very far as the sun was on it's way down so we stopped at Jacky Jacky Creek. The story goes that Jacky Jacky was a member of an early exploration expedition and was killed & eaten by cannibals here so they named the creek after him.

Our camp at Jacky Jacky creek

A beautiful little crystal clear creek in the middle on nowhere, not even a sign post. Camped there the night and tried cooking the biggest sardines ( the hearings I caught for bait ), for dinner, the locals told us if you deep fry them for long enough the bones melt away. That kinda worked, they were very nice and lots of them, all the small bones you just chew up into bits and there OK to swallow, still lots left for bait.

Jacky Jacky creek swimming hole

On to Varillia Point, Everyone we spoke to in Bamaga said it was closed, out of bounds, the bridge is collapsed, police and rangers handing out fines, mine is developing, there's a big fence, it's a nice spot!, the stories aren't very consistent except for the underlying fact that they all said don't go, even the wise old fulla with the white beard driving the ferry muttered something when we asked, so we asked the ferry office too,

Long red dirt highways

( the closest civilisation to Varillia point ) but we thought we
would nose in there for a look.

No sign post no markings but we found the turn off the development road, it was closed with orange hazard fence and warritars, oh and of course to scare people even more police tape and a road closed sign. There were a couple other tracks leading around the blockage just like a fallen tree on every other track we had been on. Past the road closed barriers and off down the track before someone sees our dust trail.

The old log bridge, gateway to Varillia point

Think light and skinny

Apart from the rough rutted track the first obstacle we found was the old log bridge. It's marked on the map, everyone said it had collapsed, we thought maybe it had that's why it was closed but we went for a look. The bridge was very old, very skinny, dodgy, rickety, and just made of rotting gum logs sourced from nearby, but it looked wide enough and strong enough for the Challenger. James guided me over the bridge, I couldn't even see it it was that small, then a sharp right straight after the bridge which got the gravity of the truck all wrong, lifted the front wheel and didn't feel like it was going to stop at that, so I rolled back towards the bridge and straightened up a bit, it felt much better, still got up it on 3 wheels though.

Local gum logs, termite resistant, I hope.

Now down long rough track to the beach, over, around and through big holes and ruts that carry on for ever, fallen trees, past the mining lease boundary with nothing insight, finally we made it to Varillia Point north beach. Awesome deserted spot, with lots of picnic tables & shelters, some were just a tin roof and some gum logs, we chose one to string our hammocks up in and set the kitchen up on the table, collected some coconuts for breakfast & I had a fish off rocks.

Afternoon snooze in the beach hammock

Got 10 rock fish, a deadly species found all over the world but seldom seen or landed due to their immense weight, you Loose your gear Almost every time, I even lost my rod to one when my back was turned. James went walking way out into the shallows of the bay with a spear looking like a real local,came back with 3 mud crabs and a stingray for dinner. .

Quiet Dingo at Varillia north

In the morning there was a Dingo watching us, waiting for us to leave so he could sniff around, these Dingo's seem like the Fraser island Dingoes, they are very weary of people and keep their distance. After another bullet proof coffee & coconut, banana, chia smoothie for breakfast, the blender is Jame's alarm, LOL. We took down the hammocks and moved up the beach to the spit, past a ww2 light ship wreck, to a wicked camp underneath huge cassurinas , right at the mouth of the estuary. Went fishing in the river and after seeing a few bait fish being herded into the shallows I got a big Travelley. James got a couple Brim and a Flatty, and a small Dart fish. I speared some live bait and hooked onto two sharks which took my line after a quick fight, James went walking with the spear again way out the river mouth, following the low tide, I could barely see him, he came back with another crab, and a flounder, but lost his rod to a shark. Yet another Great fish dinner cooked on the fire. Time to relax it the beach hammock I found.

Varillia point lookout, north.

In the morning I noticed the fridge wasn't cooling properly, lucky everything was still frozen so it kept it cold while I turned it off for a rest, see if that helps, must of been all the rough roads shook it up a bit.
We packed up again ,had a quick unsuccessful fish, and spotted a whole heap of pig tracks and rooting along the estuary bank, it was under the high tide too, means they were there early this morning, the tracks looked like a sow and handful of piglets, I tracked them for a while but didn't catch up.

The light ship wreck

Varillia Beach

Back down the beach past the wreck to Varillia point look out, nice spot for lunch with a excellent view of Varillia North. Then we carried on along the southern track over to Varillia South, just before the beach is yet another perfect crystal clear creek.Had a wash, filled drinking water drums, set Yabbie pots, did washing in creek in a sensible order of course.

BARRAMUNDI!! 69CM

We set up camp under the shade of a Squeaky Tree, about 50m from the creek mouth, which lasted about 15mins, then I climbed up and cut of the squeaky branch, the tree and myself said ahhh that's better. Hung my washing on the tree and went fishing in the creek, with my last fishing rod, a short inflexible boat rod the two good ones had gotten lost. There was a nice steep bank which I thought would be too steep for crocs. Hooked up a heap of little mangrove jacks on the hand line, which were fun, they leap out of the water and either snap your line or spit it out, landing on the bank next to you. Lots of mullet cruising around, so I got some in the cast net for fresh bait, no decent fish in the creek but I think the tide is coming in later on tonight. After more fish for dinner I went back to the creek to tidy up in case a crocodile decided to visit, dropped a line in since there was a bit more water from the high tide, and wham, a massive fish grabbed my line without hesitation, I grabbed it and tightened the drag, then a big Barramundi lept out of the water several times, from one side of the creek, to the other, ripping line out despite the tight drag, I could see his red eyes in the torch light, finally got him to the bank, I GOT ONE ! BARRAMUNDI ! WOOHOO!

Now to swim back with a bucket full of fish.

Cheribin are a excellent indicator of water quality.

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After a dodgy proof photo I cleaned, gutted scaled and filleted him, down by the creek, away from camp to avoid attracting crocs, the scales are the size of my thumb nail, was easier to scrape them off by hand rather than a knife, very thick fillets came off easily leaving all bones on the frame & thick boneless fillets. Now he will fit in the fridge, which thankfully had started going again after a rest. In the morning there was a big croc slide, he had climbed up the steep sandy back and scouted out where I cleaned the Barra, lucky we aren't camped too close and any traces of fish were either at the creek or in the fridge.

Breakfast on a stick.

The next morning the tide was going out so I packed a fishing kit and followed it way out the rocks, found a nice coral drop off with seaweed for cover, pulled 3 blue-bones out of the snags and 3 more got away by taking my line into the reef. James came out the rocks after checking the Yabby pots , he got 4 big Cheribin caught on half an old mandarin. We decided to go back to camp when the tide started coming in, work boots are also good for rock fishing, especially if you need to swim back over invisible jagged rocks & coral using fishing bucket full of fish and bait as a float. Blue-bone and Cheribin for dinner, very nice.

Dinner, Blue bones.

After a second night at Varillia South,4 nights total, we decided to make our way Weipa.
We had a good feed of fish in the fridge plus James is out of beer. We checked the pots, James had another 8 big Cheribin, mandarins are great bait.In one epic long drive, we went all the way to Weipa just in time before shops closed.

Taken from a distance, he's a big killer.

Herring at Sesha jetty ,bait for a week at Varillia point.

Saw King Brown Snake( or something big & deadly looking). Stopped for a swim at lunchtime, Let James out at Bramwell Station Road house to have a beer with Kevin cause Kevin's me mate. Rolled into Weipa servo almost out of gas due to a fuel leak at 5pm on Friday,Yaay goon time.